Women more jealous of attractive work rivals who work well with men

London, May 5 (ANI): Women in the workplace are plagued by jealousy and envy when it comes to their more attractive colleagues, while men remain unfazed by such same-sex rivalry, a new study has revealed.

However, the study also found that both men and women are equally envious of a rival's social skills.

Using questionnaires given to 200 workers, scientists analysed intrasexual rivalry, choosing 114 people to further complete the study.

Results showed sexual competition generally causes more jealousy and envy in women, but rivals' social skills provoke both emotions in both men and women.

"This result shows the importance of social skills in work environments," the Daily Mail quoted Rosario Zurriaga from the University of Valencia as saying.

"Women with a high level of intrasexual competition are more jealous if the rival is more attractive and more envious if the rival is more powerful and dominating.

"They did not get any results in men, as no rival characteristics that provoke jealousy or envy predicted intrasexual competition.

"Our research intends to clarify the role of emotions like envy and jealousy at work. These feelings have not been studied in working contexts and can cause stress in workers and negatively affect the quality of working life," Zurriaga said.

Researchers looked at intrasexual rivalry - competition with other people of the same sex caused by a desire to keep access to the opposite sex.

They distinguished between two emotions, envy and jealousy.

They defined jealousy as a threat or loss of success because of interference from a rival. Envy, according to the Spanish, Dutch and Argentinian researchers, is a response to another person who has skills or qualities they desire.

Out of the participants, 26 percent worked in administration, 21 percent in the services sector, 30 per cent in education and the rest in health and other professions.

The average age was 36 years, with an equal amount of men and women, all of whom had spent 11 years in their current company.

The study has been published in the journal Revista de Psicologma Social. (ANI)

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